The Dark Heart of Sandokan
| This article is about the Fanclub-exclusive story. For the titular MacGuffin, see Dark Heart of Sandokan. |
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| "The Black Sea of Sandokan" "The Dark Heart of Sandokan" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Transformers Collectors' Club | ||||||||||||
| First published | February 19, 2007 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Benson Yee | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Jake Isenberg | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Jake Isenberg | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Thomas Deer | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Cybertron cartoon | ||||||||||||
| Page count | 29pp | ||||||||||||
A crashed Autobot ship's crew and a Decepticon bounty hunter race to recover a new powerful energy source, while an alien intelligence desires to destroy them all.
Synopsis
On board the Star Arrow, an Autobot ship assigned with the carrying a new piece of technology known as a Force Chip, Excellion complains about having to transport something he feels is a waste of time. When berated by his mentor, Blurr, about the risk of Decepticons obtaining it, Excellion misses the point, think it just a simple Cyber Key. Blurr explains that the Force Chip, while similar, is made from Nebulan technologies, and can increase a Cybertronian's power by a factor of twenty or more, a weapon that could help the Decepticons rise up again. Override, commander of the ship, steps in, explaining to Excellion he's here because she believes his efforts can be beneficial. As Excellion apologizes for this outburst, the ship is rattled, alarm klaxons begin to sound, and Override demands a status report. Swerve explains that plasma beam attack originates from the planet below, Sandokan, which. according to the star charts, is supposed to be abandoned. Their shield's power already halved. With more blasts incoming, Override orders for evasive maneuvers. The ship is suddenly struck by a different beam, causing the ship's metal to buckle and groan. Longrack identifies it as a powerful tractor beam coming from below, and with no other way to get out of it's grip, Override orders Swerve to launch the torpedoes. With the tractor beam stopped, Blurr accelerates the ship, thinking they're home free. Unfortunately, one final blast takes out the ships systems, and as the crew falls unconscious, the ship free falls in the planets atmosphere, breaking apart...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Aliens |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Notes
- Mentioned characters include: Galvatron, Unicron, Primus, Vector Prime,
Continuity notes
- This story takes place sometime after the end of the Cybertron cartoon. Override was last seen onboard the Ogygia in series finale Beginning; since then, she's been transferred to the command position of the Star Arrow. Blurr and Longrack were chronologically last seen in Force of Habit, having commandeered the Decepticon ship, the Upstart. The story wouldn't be released until a year later. Excellion and Swerve, meanwhile, make their first appearances in fiction here.
Transformers references
- Excellion complains that they could have just sent the Force Chip via Galactic Express, a company mentioned in Transformers cartoon episode Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1.
- Nebulos is the home planet in America's continuities of the various "-master" partners, including Headmasters, Targetmasters, and Powermasters. They were mentioned in the Cybertron cartoon.
- The Force Chip takes its name from the Japanese name for the Cyber Keys.
- While mulling over rescuing the living weapon Synthos, Override recalls Optimus Prime's words, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." This hearkens back to Generation 1 Optimus's Tech Spec quote, and those of several following Optimus Primes as well.
Real-world references
Other trivia
- After the story ends, there's a plug for the Club-exclusive Astrotrain toy.
- The story was originally titled "The Black Sea of Sandokan", which is reflected in the prologue published in Transformers Collectors Magazine #13. A correction was published the next issue.
